


Wild Horses

by obstinatrix



Category: Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-09
Updated: 2010-12-09
Packaged: 2018-10-27 23:45:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10819266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/obstinatrix/pseuds/obstinatrix





	Wild Horses

It isn't anywhere they've ever stopped at before, this planet; empty as Iowa, and vaster. The scrubby vegetation and broomswept skies, he might have anticipated, but the wildlife - now approaching the landing party in curious herds - is entirely unexpected.

" _Horses_ ," Jim says, and his voice is a wisp of bemusement. "Are those - seriously - _horses_?"

"So it would appear, Captain," Spock says flatly. Jim narrows his eyes, and turns back to the creatures.

They're beautiful animals, their flanks smooth and glossy, their manes long and untamed, shivering in skeins as they move. They _are_ , as far as Jim can tell, horses; but there's something else about them, something _more_. He can't put his finger on it, precisely, but their pale manes and backs seem almost iridescent, in a way that would not be seen in even the most well-bred Terran horse.

"Gorgeous," he murmurs, approvingly. "Aren't they, Spock?"

"They are very fine animals, Captain," Spock says; but he sounds - if Jim isn't mistaken, which he very rarely is, on his specialist subject of Spock - almost apprehensive. Jim laughs softly.

" _Mr_ Spock. Don't tell me you're scared of the things?"

Spock presses his lips together pointedly. "That would be most illogical, Captain."

"Huh." The lead horse is almost upon them, now; Jim puts out his hand without thinking to grip its mane. Spock's minute twitch - even while the horse presses affably into Jim's hand, absolutely unconcerned - speaks volumes.

"I think I'm gonna have a ride, Mr Spock," Jim says, recklessly. It's a risk, probably inadvisable, and he knows it; but it's worth it for the widening of Spock's eyes as he swings a leg over the horse's back (and worth it, too, for the familiar movement of the horse beneath him as it starts to walk, the well-remembered tug in his thigh muscles).

" _Captain_ ," Spock cautions, and there's undeniably some emotion troubling the calm in his voice. Jim walks the horse forward a few paces, and grins at him.

"Beautiful, isn't he?" He pats the horse's flank, gentling.

" _Jim_ ," Spock says, "It is most inadvisable to - to - "

"Take a risk?" Jim turns the horse; walks it, carefully, back towards Spock until its wide dark eyes must almost be level with his First Officer's. "Come on, Spock. Give him a stroke."

"You will be lucky if this tendency of yours to rush into risk does not end, one day, in _your_ having a stroke, yourself," Spock grumbles. But it's a _joke_ \- from _Spock_ \- and Jim will take that as consolation, any day. He laughs.

"Come on, Spock." He reaches out for Spock's wrist. His hand is half-raised, hovering in the air, and the blood rushing beneath the skin is violently hot when Jim's fingers close around it. Spock lets out a soft little breath.

"Here," Jim says, more softly, and tugs again. Spock's resists, at first, but the tension drops all in a second as Jim's fingers curl more tightly, Spock's wrist giving in to Jim's coaxing until his fingers land, at last, in the soft thickness of the horse's mane.

"See?" Jim says, quietly, as if Spock, himself, were a horse to be gentled. His fingers are still on Spock's wrist, soothing. Spock's eyes are still wide, but it is no longer an expression of protest as much as it is one of awe, and something leaps in Jim's chest at the sight of it.

"Indeed," Spock says, in a voice that has softened with his resistance, with his demeanour. He lets his fingers drift, long, pale fingers in the long, pale mane, and Jim swallows, holds his wrist a little tighter.

"Beautiful, huh?"

"Yes," Spock says; and the corner of his mouth quirks as he looks up, holding Jim's eyes. "Yes, Captain."


End file.
